Stora Enso invests 70 MEUR in a new polyethylene (PE) extrusion coating plant and an automated roll warehouse (ARW) for its Imatra mills in Finland. The Imatra complex, which comprises the Kaukopää and Tainionkoski mills, has a capacity of more than one million tons/yr of carton board and specialty packaging paper. With this investment, Stora Enso aims to increase and meet increasing customer demand for food service board and liquid packaging board.
The full roll handling scope for this investment with the new automated warehouse was ordered from Pesmel, and its commissioning is expected to be completed in early Q4/2017. The roll handling system is one of the biggest deliveries in Pesmel’s history, requiring 80 man-years of work.
”The system is good example of our Material Flow How concept, where the high bay warehouse synchronizes the production processes flexibly and efficiently. With packing and loading included, all the components of our concept will be delivered,” says Vice President of Pesmel’s paper division, Mr. Kaj Fahllund.
TransRoll concept selected
The heart of this new system layout is Pesmel’s TransRoll ARW concept, which is connected with 7 in-out connections at different floor levels between the mill production and converting lines. It has ~30,000 tons of buffering capacity for intermediate rolls to be used at mill converting, as well as for finished rolls to be shipped out to end customers.
This concept’s storing volume can be expanded in the future, as well as the number of its connections. The whole footprint of this warehouse is only ~4,500 m2 with a high ~8 t/m2 effective storing density. And being at the true heart of the mills’ material flow, it has whopping 900 t/h fully automated in-out handling and sorting capacity with two stacker cranes.
The TransRoll ARW is equipped with a full Pesmel WMS warehouse management system, which is connected to the MIS (mill information system) to track roll flow and to keep the real-time storage inventory for the converting and shipping operations.

Fully automated OptiWrap Multi Kraft wrapper
Pesmel’s roll handling scope includes a large connecting conveyor system as well as a new high capacity kraft wrapping line with robotized core plugging and head insertion. The handling capacity is set to 120 r/h, but this can be increased to 20-40% in the future.
Automated truck loading eliminates roll damages
With automated truck loading, the unpacked rolls are transported from the TransRoll warehouse to a coating mill situated one kilometer away. The rolls are loaded and unloaded fully automatically in a horizontal position, which totally eliminates possible roll end damages. Transferring the rolls unpacked generates remarkable savings when it comes to packing costs.
FlowCare to ensure efficiency and reliability
This delivery includes a tailormade Pesmel FlowCare portal. This digital IoT (Internet of things) interface collects, saves, and analyzes information from the delivered system, helps to foresee service needs, and eliminates the mills’ bottlenecks when it comes to material flow. The FlowCare portal gives access to e-shop, spare part, maintenance, document services, a ticketing system, and 24/7 customer support.
Pesmel TransRoll ARW merits:
1. Safety and quality
- Clamp handling eliminated in mills’ internal handling.
- Rack storage fire safety with built-in wet sprinkler system.
2. Cost efficiency
- Automated, non-clamp handling, with full inventory control.
- Minimized space utilization with the possibility for future expansion.
- Production sorting and buffering capacity – no pre-sorting needed.
3. Reliability
- Elimination of human errors – right products at the right time to the right address.
- Minimized need for handling equipment.
- FlowCare portal for service and operation support.
4. Environment friendliness
- No need for fossil fuels.
- Minimized space need.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Kaj Fahllund, VP Paper & Converting
Tel. +358 207 009 626
Email: kaj.fahllund(at)pesmel.com
Pesmel
Pesmel is global supplier of highly automated internal logistic, storing (AS/RS). and packing systems for the metal, paper, and converting industries.
Pesmel has delivered over 400 handling and packing projects and around 120 storage systems with more than 200 stacker cranes in the course of four decades. The company employs over 200 professionals, of which about 120 are situated in Finland.
Stora Enso Imatra Mills
The Imatra Mills consists of two production units: Kaukopää and Tainionkoski. Together, they employ approximately 1,000 people and produce one million tons of board and paper annually. More than 90 percent of production is exported, mostly to countries in Europe, but a substantial share is also exported to Southeast Asia.
Imatra produces liquid packaging board for beverage cartons and food service boards for paper cups and various food packages. Typical customers include the food, confectionery, and tobacco industries.
High-quality packaging papers and graphical boards used for book covers, cards. and luxury packaging are also made at the Imatra Mills.